| Date: October 18, 2007 | | Location Bear Tree Trail Hike | | Where: North Bank Habitat Management Area | Some days I just have to get out and hike regardless of the weather. It's been like that for me since I was a boy growing up in the country and hiking in the woods behind my house. Today was one of those days, I had to get out, stretch my legs, breath in the pungent scents of fall, work out the kinks in my mind, and get lost in the wonderful world of nature.
The plan for the day was to hike in the North Bank Habitat Management Area, to start up the road along Chasm Creek, and take the Bear Creek Trail to the summit of Round Timber. I made a mistake in trying to find the Bear Tree Trail, and ended up in the appropriately named - - Lost Canyon. Honestly, I don't make this stuff up!
|  | | Lost Canyon I didn't find the trail or the tree, but I definitely did find the bear! The bear appeared to not want to have anything to do with me, fleeing immediately, and after she had chased her cubs up a tree, it became apparent that she also did not want me to have any thing to do with her or her cubs as well. I accepted the notion and made a retreat.
|  | | mother bear After climbing out of Lost Canyon I picked up the fire road along the ridge line and hiked on up to the summit of Round Timber. From the summit I had great views of the area, including looking north down to Cooper Creek Reservoir.
|  | | the summit of Round Timber My route back took the fire road along the ridge, giving Lost Canyon a wide berth, and back down to Chasm Creek. This evidently is the Bear Creek Trail route. What you need to realize is that most of the 'trails' here at the North Bank are fire access roads, and BLM has literally no signage, so it does take some guessing.
Statistics for the day: 6.4 miles, 1410 feet accumulative climb
|  | | view to Cooper Creek Reservior |  | | ridgeline view |  | | feeding deer |
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